Three Suspects Arrested for Robbery Spree

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Three Spring Valley residents were taken into custody Friday night in connection with a string of pedestrian robberies that spanned over a few weeks around the city.

Two men, aged 22 and 23, along with a 38-year-old female were arrested for several robberies which took place between September 21 and October 6 in Pacific Beach, University Heights and Hillcrest, said Lt. Andra Brown in a media release.

Investigators said the crime spree began between September 21 and 28 when three robberies occurred in the same fashion in Hillcrest and University Heights.

During one of the incidents, the suspects were said to have fled the scene in a white vehicle driven by a heavy set woman.

As those crimes were taking place, a group of suspects were using a knife to threaten their victims during similar robberies in the Pacific Beach area from September 21 through October 4. The incidents usually happened between 11 p.m. and midnight, Brown said.

The final two robberies in the series occurred on Thursday night and began when a person was accosted as he walked across a bridge at 800 Robinson Avenue, according to a media release.

The victim was on his cell phone when he was reportedly grabbed from behind by a suspect who demanded his phone and wallet. The victim screamed, at which point the suspect threatened to stab him, but no weapon could be seen, Brown said .

The victim struggled with the suspect and was then pushed into the way of an oncoming vehicle as the suspect fled northbound onto 8th Avenue. The victim wasn’t injured and the suspects did not end up taking any property, according to Brown.

Only minutes later, another person was attacked with a knife to his throat after a suspect reached around him as he was walking on in the 1400 block of Tyler Avenue, police said.

The suspects allegedly pushed the man to the ground, punched and kicked him before taking his cell phone. The suspects got away, heading west on Tyler and then turning south onto Maryland Street.

Patrol officers were alerted of the robberies and decided to go to areas where previous cases had had been reported in order to look for possible suspects. That’s when they located the two male suspects in the intersection of Dawes and Missouri Streets.

Police said one of the men dropped a knife as officers approached him.

The female suspect was found nearby in the driver’s seat of a small white car, Brown said.

After an initial investigation, all three suspects, whose identities have been withheld, were arrested on for robbery and conspiracy to commit robbery.